I just watched a movie(again) called “Enemy of the State.” The movie was made in 1998 and stars Will Smith and Gene Hackman. It also has several additional established stars such as Jon Voight and Lisa Bonet, plus a couple of unheard of future stars in Jack Black and Seth Green, Seth’s appearance is almost a cameo and I don’t think it was credited.

Will Smith is a labor attorney married with a child, who through an old college lover acquires a surveillance tape of a mob boss that is threatening a labor union that Will Smith represents. He attempts to persuade the Mafia boss to leave his union clients alone, threatening the Mafia boss with exposure of the tape. The Mafia bosses not impressed and threatens to have Smith killed if he doesn’t turn over the person that made the tape in the first place.

Separately and at this point in an unrelated plot line, a Senator is murdered by several members of the national security agency. The NSA wants a certain piece of legislation to make its way through Congress to give them more authority in gathering intelligence internally in the United States. Now 10 years ago this plot line seemed until conspiratorial, however after 9/11, the war on terror, and the Iraq war and all of the transgressions that have been identified by the Justice Department in the NSA as they’ve monitored civilians within the borders of the United States make the plot line actually seen a little tame.

As luck would have it a conservationist is filming a lake where the senator happens to be murdered and discovers that his film has the murder on it. Shortly after his discovery the NSA gets on his trail and chases and down until his untimely death in front of a fire truck. Love the chase will smith ends up with a copy of the tape unknowingly.

The NSA eventually figures this out in this creates the drama of Will Smith going up against the NSA. A third of the way into the movie it’s revealed the Gene Hackman is the source of the Mafia tape and also as luck would have it a former member of the NSA has been hiding out since 1980. It’s revealed that the members of the NSA are somewhat corrupt and they start to attempt to protect themselves from Expos your while Smith in Hackman attempt to get to the bottom of things. They eventually discover the tape and figure out what’s on it only to have the tape destroyed in a fiery escape from the NSA.

The escape includes one of the famous dialogues of this particular movie, which plays out as follows:

Gene Hackman: “I blew up the building.” (his hide out of 18 years)
Will Smith incredulously screaming: “WHY?!”
Hackman: “Because you Made a PHONE CALL!” (referring to a pay phone call that Will Smith had made to warn his wife and child to get out of town)

The movie goes through several spectacular plot twists, and ultimately ends up with a showdown between the NSA and the Mafia orchestrated by Smith at the spur of the moment and finally cleaned up by the FBI. Possibly the most incredulous aspect about the movie is that the actual conspiracy is revealed to the public as one of the members of the NSA team, Jack Black, who plays a very convincing geeky signal analyst, decides to record Jon Voight confessing to the crime of killing the senator. Ultimately the legislation is thwarted by a different Senator that had spearheaded the effort, and who had participated in a slight plot distraction when Hackman Smith installed surveillance equipment to spy on that Senator full in around with his aide.

As I mentioned it strikes me as amazing today in 2007 as I watch this movie again, how close to reality the movie has actually become. I recall watching the movie when it came out back in 1998 and thinking that it felt a little too much like a canned conspiracy theory type of movie. Unfortunately reality has come far too close to fiction and probably surpassed fiction altogether.

I rated this 4 stars. When the movie came out it was probably 3 to 3.5 stars because the premise seemed crazy. It doesn’t seem so far fetched any longer.

Just got back from the movies. What a great movie. In the Land of Women really made me feel, something I haven’t been able to say about many movies I’ve seen lately. It started out a little slow, but once Carter, the main character, moved in with his grandmother and met the family across the street, things moved more quickly. It had some surprising funny moments, as well as many tender, sad scenes that actually made me cry a few times. I know it’s definitely a “chick flick” but I think the guys will like this one too, especially since the lead is a 26 year old guy.

Olympia Dukakis was awesome as the dying grandmother. At times, Meg Ryan seemed like she was playing Sally from When Harry Met Sally, but with some very real problems. There’s nothing wrong with that, she does it so well. New comer (at least to me) Adam Brody, who played the lead, Carter, a 26 year old guy who moves in with his grandmother to help her and ends up helping the mother and daughter across the street come to terms with some unresolved issues, was totally adorable. Also, Kristen Stewart and Makenzie Vega, Meg Ryan’s two daughters in the movie, really did a great job of bringing me back to my childhood.

Hope you go see it and enjoy it as much as I did! Bring tissues!

The long awaited sequel to Danny Boyle’s, 28 Days Later is due out in select theatres May 11th! The film entitled 28 Weeks Later will feature the repopulation of London due to the havoc wreaked on the city by the rage virus. For those of you who haven’t seen the first film get your ass out to Blockbuster or put it on your Netflix list right now, you will thank me later.

The second installment, directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, features an all-new cast, thrilling soundtrack and an even deadlier strain of the rage virus. Rose Byrne and the upstart Jeremy Renner are featured in this film along with a troupe of prominent British performers from such films as S.W.A.T., Troy and even The Matrix Trilogy.

With incredible talent in hand, Fresnadillo sets the stage with the United States Army declaring the war against the rage virus won and slowly beginning the process of repopulating the quarantine zone in London. After the first wave of refugees return, a new strain of the rage virus crops up to decimate the repopulation efforts.

If you are a fan of the survival horror genre and zombie movies, 28 Weeks Later will not disappoint. The first film is one of my all time favorite movies and I have been anticipating this release since 2004, when I heard a sequel was in the works. I was somewhat apprehensive when I heard that their would be no cast members returning, however any reservation I had were set aside when I viewed the trailer as well as the star laden roster.

28 Weeks Later will be released on May 11th and promises to be an excellent kickoff to the blockbuster season.

I went to see Vacancy last night and I have to admit, it was better than I thought it would be. Although the plot is straightforward and offers little to no surprises, I would still recommend this film as a rental. Kate Beckinsale and Luke Wilson deliver believable performances, however their reactions and decisions to certain stimuli oftentimes led me to believe they were more concerned with entertainment than sanitary conditions.

Directed by Nimród Antal, Vacancy delivers an entertaining experience filled with the clichéd “Don’t go in there!”, “Don’t do that!” type of viewing made famous by slasher films of the late 70’s and early 80’s. The film reminded me of a toned down version of Saw or perhaps Hostel. The snuff film scenes were fairly disturbing, but were slightly overdrawn and, in my opinion, way too predictable.

All in all, I would consider Vacancy a decent rental for a night of drinking beers with the guys, or even for something in the background while playing Beirut (if the stereo isn’t working…)

Babe Levy (Dustin Hoffman) is leading a seemingly safe and innocent life in Manhatten, studying for a PhD in History, running regulary in Central Park in preparation for a marathon, and pursuing an attractive foreign exchange student by name of Else, who claims to be from Switzerland.

Babe’s older brother, Doc Levy (Roy Scheider) is pursuing a very different life. He works as a secret agent who transports diamonds from a safe in a Manhatten bank. The diamonds belong to the most wanted surviving Nazi, by name of Christian Szell (Laurance Olivier). Szell, a sadistic dentist who was chief supervisor of the Auschwitz concentration camp, is hiding in the rainforests of South America and owns one key to the safe, his brother owns the other key.

The lives of all involved take a significant turn when Szell’s brother rather comically dies in a traffic accident. Now, Szell must leave his hiding place in South America and visit the safe. However, he fears he’ll get robbed after leaving the bank with the fortune in diamonds. His solution to the problem: have those who know of the diamonds killed.

After several attempts on Doc, Szell finally succeeds in killing him. However, Szell thinks Doc told his younger brother Babe about the diamonds. So, Szell, who has several people working for him, including the foreign exchange student pursued by Babe, has Babe kidnapped and personally tortures him to get information out. The infamous torture scene consists of Szell drilling in Babe’s teeth asking repeatedly, “Is it safe.”

Babe eventually escapes but must find a way to track Szell and put an end to his ways. Marathon Man, directed by John Schlesinger in 1976, is based on the novel by William Goldman. It is about danger and survival. The cast is excellent and the movie is suspensefull from start to finish. The scenes where Szell tortures Babe are to this day considered to be amongst the most formidable ever filmed.

The Swedish movie Evil is based in a 1950s boarding school in Sweden by name of Stjarnsberg. Erik, who has been abused his whole life by his stepfather, is now in his later teens and transfers to the school in hope of being able to eventually attend a university.

During the 1950s, students typically ran the rules in boarding schools. Teachers and staff typically performed teaching or administrative tasks. Stjarnsberg is no exception and mainly consists of students from Sweden’s wealthiest and most priveleged families. The school is divided between two houses, one is the Olympia with the more priveleged and typically older students while the other, the Casseiopeia, is for the other “regular” students. The school has institutionalized bullying by the more priveleged students on the others.

At first, Erik tries to make his experience at Stjarnsberg as pleasant as possible and keep out of trouble. He studies hard, joins the school swim team, befriends his roommate Pierre. However, when the students from Olympia, led by Otto Silverhjelm and his right hand Dahlen begin bullying both Erik and later Pierre in various ways, from urinating on their beds,  spilling buckets of human waste into their room at night, forcing them to polish shoes, all the way to challenging them to fight, Erik finds it increasingly difficult to compose  himself.

 At the end, after Pierre gets beaten by two of the bullies, Erik ends up fighting them. Eventually, he gets kicked out of the school, which would destroy his future plans, however, he then takes legal action against the school. At the end, he has a confrontation with his stepfather.

The message of Evil appears to be that there are evil people in this world and sometimes, the only way to defeat evil is by standing against it , including with force. The movie is very deep and should be watched by any person who has experienced the act of bullying.

Have you ever purchased real estate with the intent of renting it out to a tenant? Well, if so, you better make sure you don’t have the experiences of Drake and Patti (played by Matthew Modine and Melanie Griffith) in the movie Pacific Heights. The two are a young unmarried couple who purchase an old Victorian House on the outskirts of San Francisco. They cannot afford to pay the entire mortgage but intend to rent out two units, a studio and a one-bedroom flat located at the bottom of the house, in order to help ends meet.

Well, the tenant of the studio, a man under the false name of Carter Hayes (played by Micheal Keaton), turns out to be the tenant from hell. He won’t pay the rent, he won’t leave, he makes noise all night long and gets the tenants of the other unit to move out, he breads cockroaches which spread throughout the house. He even shoots Drake and causes Patti to have a miscarriage. Worst of all, “Carter,” who turns out to be a renowned scam artist, did his homework and has the law on his side.

Eventually, he is evicted from the house, but ends up destroying the entire studio apartment before disappearing. Drake is recovering from the gunshot wound, but Patti makes out to find “Carter” and bring him to justice.

 This suspenseful thriller, directed by John Schlesinger, is a good entertaining watch. The acting is very good, although it is not explained what the intentions of “Carter” are and why he is doing what he is doing. Anyhow, it will make those individuals who plan on leasing real estate think twice or more about who they will rent to.

I just watched “The Departed” over the weekend, and damn, this film is incredible. Stacked to the rafters with A+ actors, “The Departed” delivers an action packed, brutally violent and twisted storyline centered in the heart of Boston. Jack Nicholson delivers a gritty, raw and relentless performance as Costello, the boss of the Boston crime syndicate and the focal point of mob mole Billy (DiCaprio). The film also features Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen and Alec Baldwin among many other prominent actors of the last 20 years.

After viewing Martin Scorsese’s “The Departed”, I have to say the film lives up to the hype. With richly developed characters and an epic story, Scorsese wastes no time captivating his audience with an introduction to the major players and also their back-stories. Nicholson’s performance was typical, maniacal Jack and held a few twists, but viewers will definitely appreciate stellar performances by both DeCaprio and Damon. There are many twists and turns throughout the film, as with any good film, but the ending will blow your mind.

“The Departed” is an excellent film, however I do not believe it was on par with genre greats such as “The Godfather” and “Goodfellas“, but Scorsese’s film will definitely not disappoint. I only had one qualm with the film. Being from New England and growing up just outside of Boston, the accents seemed forced and at times a little too overdrawn. It was really cool to see Boston landmarks during the film such as the Zacom Bridge and the downtown district. “The Departed” is a must see for any fan of the genre.

Perfect Stranger, directed by James Foley, kept this reviewer captivated from beginning to end. What is so intriguing is that, with few exceptions, no one is who they appear to be. One exception is the mother of Halle Berry’s character who seems to have become catatonic after murdering her husband in an effort to protect her daughter from his further sexual abuse. Most of the other relationships in the story are full of deceit and riveting suspense.

The movie begins with Rowena (Halle Berry) as a reporter uncovering a closeted senator who publicly opposes gay rights. While celebrating, she learns she is forbidden to pursue the story. Absolutely furious, she blasts at her boss, “Powerful men protect other powerful men.”

Flashbacks to Rowena’s childhood fill in the blanks as to what drives her as she investigates the murder of a childhood friend with the assistance of a reporter, Miles, played convincingly by Giovanni Ribisi.

In this intricate web of deceit and cover-ups, Bruce Willis plays a powerful advertising executive who demands loyalty and shows none. So while he may receive an unfair blow, his character doesn’t get much sympathy.

There are eyes where one doesn’t expect — someone always seeing what someone else is doing. Every second matters in this film. This reviewer found herself rarely blinking.

For those wanting to sit back and be entertained without having to do much thinking, this may not be the movie for you though just looking at Halle Berry is enjoyable. She’s intense, beautiful, and very sexy.

There was an extra treat for this reviewer. The actress (Jacqueline Cannon), who played Rowena’s catatonic mother, used to be a co-worker of mine at a teaching job in the Bronx.

You may never call it soccer again.

Green Street Hooligans starsElijah Wood and Charlie Hunnam and they do an amazing job at bringing a realistic feel to a film about brotherhood, reputation and brawling within the world of European football.

The film takes place with Elijah Wood being framed for possession of cocaine in his dorm room and is kicked out of college. He moves to London where his sister lives. He meets Hunnam’s character and the action is pretty much nonstop from there. He gets involved in the violent lifestyle of football hooligans or as they call themselves, a firm.

Wood’s character comes to learn that though the life is violent there’s more to it then just beating up rival gang members. It’s about loyalty and sticking up for your brothers.

This movie really does not have many dull moments and those that exist in the film are not boring more of just to help better explain details in the story. There was not much hype around this movie when it was released in theaters but don’t let that full anybody. This movie is a solid title that delivers on all aspects. It has a raw perception in terms of filming, the story shows compassion through the violence. It is definitely one of the top movies released in the last few years.

Verdict: This movie is most definitely a buy, it can be watched over and over again and will be a nice addition to anybody’s DVD collection.